Storyline: In 1947, the movie’s narrator, Stingo (Peter MacNicol), a young writer from the American South, travels to post-WW II Brooklyn. He is befriended by Sophie Zawistowski (Meryl Streep), a beautiful Polish immigrant, and her lover, Nathan Landau (Kevin Kline). It is clear to Stingo from the serial number tattooed into Sophie’s forearm that she is no stranger to pain, as she is a Holocaust survivor.
One evening, Stingo talks with Sophie and learns some more about her past: that she was married but her husband and her father were killed in a German work camp. When Stingo notices scars on Sophie’s wrists, Sophie explains that after being rescued from Auschwitz she was taken to a refugee camp in Sweden, but whilst there she went to a church, broke a glass, and cut her wrists. Sophie goes into another room where Nathan spends a lot of his time and finds another wine bottle. The walls are covered in images of the Holocaust, prompting Sophie to explain that it is Nathan’s obsession.